


Please Don't Go

by XxmerthurcatxX



Series: Bubblegum Bitch [4]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: "please don't go", Homophobic Language, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Tumblr Prompt, but it's brief, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 09:06:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18937813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XxmerthurcatxX/pseuds/XxmerthurcatxX
Summary: prompt: "Please don't go."Steve comforts Billy after an asshole picks a fight with Billy at a party.





	Please Don't Go

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Request prompts and cry about harringrove with me on tumblr @callmelilyshameless

Steve Harrington had a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He’d shown up at the Byers, wanting to apologize for being such a dick, but no matter how honorable his intentions, he still managed to pick the one time the house was occupied by a demon hell monster. He’d gone to apologize to Nancy just in time for Dustin to demand that he help him deal with, yet ANOTHER demon hell monster.

There were less extreme instances of course. Walking in on Tommy and Carol having sex (more times than he can count), getting to a party right when the cops arrived to break it up, etc. But none of these things prepared him for Tommy’s graduation party. 

Honestly, Steve wasn’t even sure why he had bothered to show up. He and Tommy weren’t even friends anymore. But it was the end of the year and with everyone heading off to college in the fall, well everyone but Steve anyway, it seemed like a good time to let bygones be bygones and just be a stupid teenager for the night. 

That being said, he’d been there for less than an hour and he was already ready to go home, call the kids, and have them over for a movie night instead. The party was in full swing, drunk teenagers doing what they did best: yelling and breaking shit. Steve was about to say fuck it and leave, when he saw him. 

 _Billy_. 

Steve hated that just the sight of him made him break out in goosebumps. He had hoped after that night at the Byers that Billy would ignore him. Instead he was everywhere. Leaning against Steve’s locker to tease him, pressing close on the basketball court during gym class, growling “pretty boy” when he passed Steve in the hall. It was too much and yeah maybe it was a little fucked up that the guy who’d beat Steve to a pulp now made his heart race and his blood boil deliciously, but as long as Steve kept his attraction to himself, what did it matter?

He hung on the outskirts of the party, leaning against a wall and watching as Billy threw his head back and laughed at something Tommy said, beer dribbling down his chin. Steve knew it was a hollow laugh. That Billy was putting on a show like he always did. The black eye and split lip he was sporting told a different story. 

_“It’s his dad,” Max told him, tears in her eyes when Steve showed up to pick her up for school. She’d called him in a panic because apparently Billy was “unfit to drive.”  
_

_“What’s his dad?” Steve asked, confused.  
_

_“Billy’s Dad, Neil. He hits him. He hits Billy and Steve…sometimes it’s really bad. And I know it doesn’t make up for what he did to you or to me or any of us, but y-you should’ve seen it Steve. Neil was pissed at me for being late getting back from the arcade and Billy stepped in and turned Neil’s anger from me to him. I-I can’t believe he did that for me. A-and now, he’s hurt so bad he’s not even going to school today,” Max cried, hiding her face in her hands and shaking in Steve’s front seat._

Needless to say, Steve saw Billy differently after that. Noted that behind his bravado was an ever present look of fear in his eye and a full body flinch whenever someone touched him when he wasn’t expecting it. 

“The fuck did you just call me?!”

Steve was jolted from his thoughts at the sound of what was definitely an altercation in the making. Billy was nose to nose with a guy Steve didn’t recognize and he looked out for blood. The rest of the party took notice, crowding around, some nervous and some excited to see what would happen. 

“I’m just sayin man,” the other guy said, “with all those low shirts and the long hair and the earring, you definitely look like a  _faggot_  to me.”

Steve winced, fully expecting Billy to scream in the guys face and give him the beat down of a century. Instead Billy grit his teeth, his whole frame starting to shake. Even from a distance, Steve could recognize it for what it was. A panic attack. The other guy didn’t seem to want to wait for Billy to hit first, so he drew his fist back and landed a solid punch to the corner of Billy’s mouth, reopening his already split lip. 

Billy went down hard. He didn’t even try to get up and yeah now Steve was moving closer, his feet acting of their own volition because if anyone understood panic attacks it was Steve. He’d had more than enough to recognize one when he saw it. 

Tommy, in a rare moment of good will, was already dragging the other guy away from Billy’s crouched form when Steve arrived at his side. 

“Some party, hey Steve,” Tommy said, struggling to keep the guy away from Billy. 

“Yeah. Some party.”

When it appeared that Billy wouldn’t be moving on his own, Steve ducked down, carefully sliding his arms underneath Billy’s and leaned close to his ear. 

“C’mon man, you can’t stay on the floor in the middle of a party, you’ll get stepped on. I’ll help okay? But you gotta work with me,” Steve said quietly, waiting for Billy’s small nod that he had heard him before he was helping the other boy to his feet. 

Steve didn’t let go of Billy until he had steered him outside and onto the , mercifully empty, back porch. 

Billy grabbed ahold of the railing, gripping it hard and taking huge gulping breaths of air. 

“Easy. Easy. You’ll make yourself throw up. Breath slow okay? Look, try to match my breathing,” Steve said, waiting for Billy to look at him before he took a deliberately slow breath, his concern easing when Billy copied him. 

They stood like that for a while. Close, but not touching, until Billy’s breath evened out. Steve thought about going back inside and letting Billy be now that he was breathing normally, but he had a feeling Billy wanted him to stay. Even if he didn’t say it. 

“So…you get those often? Panic attacks?” Steve asked. 

Billy sneered. 

“What’s it to you? King Steve, pretending he cares about trash like Billy Hargrove,” he snapped. 

Steve glared at him. 

“You know what, I don’t know why I bother. For what it’s worth, I’m glad your okay. Have a nice life,” Steve said, turning to go back inside. 

“Wait!”

Steve jumped when he felt Billy’s fingers curl around his arm, holding in place. 

“Don’t go. I don’t wanna be…please don’t go,” Billy said, voice quieter than Steve had ever heard it. 

Steve noted that Billy’s cheeks were pink, his eyes a little wet with unshed tears, and an errant curl had fallen over his eyes. Steve had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn’t that Billy just needed  _someone_ right now. It was that, for whatever reason, he needed Steve. 

Tentatively, praying to every god he could think of that he hadn’t read this totally wrong, Steve reached down and laced their fingers together, a small smile on his face when Billy’s mouth dropped open in surprise. 

“I’m not going anywhere.”


End file.
